Another storm system brought locally high winds, rain and snow, and patchy dense fog to the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
Another storm system brought locally high winds, rain and snow, and patchy dense fog to the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 11, 3:07 AM PST, 5 hours 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 307 AM PST THU DEC 11 2014 .SYNOPSIS...A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE AREA TODAY BRINGING AN INCREASE IN SOUTHERLY WINDS TO THE REGION. THIS SYSTEM IS THEN EXPECTED TO BRING WIDESPREAD WIND...RAIN...AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO MUCH OF THE AREA FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RETURN TO THE AREA SUNDAY AND MONDAY...BUT ANOTHER SYSTEM IS ON TRACK TO BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. && .SHORT TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...WIND WILL BE THE MAIN STORY OF THE DAY TODAY FOLLOWED BY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW ON FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. ALL OF THIS WILL RESULT FROM AN IMPRESSIVELY SHARP TROUGH WHICH IS CURRENTLY DEEPENING JUST OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA WITH THE AID OF A VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE AND A 150-170KT JET STREAK. THIS DEEPENING SYSTEM WILL INCREASE THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA AND IN PARTICULAR ACROSS INYO...ESMERALDA AND CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NYE COUNTIES. STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN RESPONSE AND A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE SIERRA AND WHITE MOUNTAINS AND WIND ADVISORY FOR THE OTHER AREAS MENTIONED WILL BE IN EFFECT THROUGH 12Z FRIDAY. THESE WINDS WILL LIKELY CAUSE AREAS OF BLOWING DUST WHICH WERE ADDED INTO THE FORECAST THIS MORNING. WEAKER BUT STILL BREEZY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE AND WILL STRONGLY INFLUENCE VALLEY TEMPERATURES. IF LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS PERSIST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON IN LAS VEGAS HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL TOP OUT AROUND 65 DEGREES...HOWEVER IF SOUTHERLY WINDS CAN PENETRATE THE VALLEY THEN TEMPERATURES COULD EASILY SPIKE TO AROUND 70. BETWEEN 06Z-12Z FRIDAY THE TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO PUSH A BAND OF ENHANCED LIFT INTO THE FORECAST AREA...FIRST IMPACTING THE SIERRA OF INYO COUNTY THEN SPREADING EAST. PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS STILL LOOK TO SUPPORT WINTER STORM WARNING SNOWFALL AMOUNTS IN THE SIERRA AND PERHAPS THE WHITE MOUNTAINS AND THE ONLY CHANGE MADE WAS TO PUSH THE START TIME OF THE WARNING TO 06Z FRIDAY...6 HOURS EARLIER TO BETTER ALIGN WITH THE ONSET OF PRECIPITATION. SNOW LEVELS IN THE SIERRA WILL BEGIN AROUND 7500 FEET TONIGHT BEFORE FALLING TO AROUND 5000 FEET BY SATURDAY MORNING. HOWEVER WITH THE BRUNT OF THE PRECIPITATION EXPECTED EARLY IN THIS TIMELINE MOST SNOWFALL TOTALS OVER 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED NEAR OR ABOVE 7000 FEET...WITH LESSER AMOUNTS BELOW. THE PRIMARY BAND OF PRECIPITATION...WELL SHOWN IN THE 300K ISENTROPIC ANALYSIS...IS ONLY EXPECTED TO BE ROUGHLY 75-100 MILES WIDE AS IT PUSHES EAST ACROSS THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA BETWEEN 12Z FRIDAY AND 06Z SATURDAY. WITH 0.20-0.50 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION EXPECTED [LOCAL AMOUNTS OF 0.5-1.00 INCHES IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN] WITH THIS NARROW BAND THE PRECIPITATION WILL LIKELY BE A BIT MORE INTENSE THAN WAS SEEN WITH LAST WEEK'S STORM. MODELS HAVE REMAINED RELATIVELY CONSISTENT WITH THE TIMING OVER THE LAST 2-3 DAYS VARYING ONLY 1-2 HOURS WITH ANY GIVEN RUN. AS A RESULT...CONFIDENCE IS RELATIVELY HIGH THAT THE BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN IN LAS VEGAS WILL OCCUR FROM 9AM TO 3PM...RESULTING IN AT LEAST A WET EVENING COMMUTE. SNOW WILL LIKELY BEGIN A BIT EARLIER OVER THE SPRING MOUNTAINS AND SHEEP RANGE WHERE SNOW LEVELS WILL START AROUND 8000 FEET FRIDAY MORNING AND DROP TO AROUND 6500 FEET BY THE EVENING. THIS WILL RESULT IN THE HEAVIEST ACCUMULATIONS ABOVE 8000 FEET...BUT AT LEAST A TRACE-4 INCHES IS LIKELY BETWEEN 6500-8000 FEET. AS THE BAND OF PRECIP EXISTS TO THE EAST FRIDAY NIGHT A SECONDARY BAND OF PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH A TIGHT FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS SHOWN TO BRUSH AT LEAST ESMERALDA...NYE AND LINCOLN COUNTIES FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS WITH THIS BAND SHOULD BE LIGHTER HOWEVER WITH LOWER SNOW LEVELS WE WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON POTENTIAL IMPACTS TO TRAVEL IN THOSE AREAS. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS CURRENTLY IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF LINCOLN COUNTY...AND AT THE MOMENT WOULD ANTICIPATE THAT THIS AREA MAY EVENTUALLY NEED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY. CONFIDENCE IN THAT SCENARIO IS LOW AT THIS TIME AND WILL LET THE DAY SHIFT TAKE ANOTHER LOOK TODAY. ELSEWHERE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE RELATIVELY QUICKLY SATURDAY AS DRIER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGION. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL TODAY BEFORE FALLING BACK TO NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. .LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...MID/UPPER RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL TRAVERSE THE AREA SUNDAY THROUGH EARLY MONDAY WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. MOISTURE WILL BE INCREASING LATE MONDAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT TROUGH AS THE RIDGE SHIFTS EAST AND THERE IS A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS NEAR THE SIERRA CREST WITH HIGH CLOUDS ACROSS THE REST OF THE CWA. MODELS DIFFER SOMEWHAT WITH THE EVOLUTION OF THE TROUGH AFTER MONDAY AND I BASICALLY WENT WITH A BLEND OF THE GFS AND ECMWF. AS THE TROUGH AXIS REACHES THE COAST TUESDAY WE SHOULD SEE MOISTURE CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER THE CWA LEADING TO AT LEAST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN MOST AREAS ALTHOUGH THE BEST CHANCES WILL BE ACROSS SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA. THE TROUGH WILL MOVE SLOWLY ACROSS THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY KEEPING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AREA WIDE. THIS TROUGH IS LOOKING STRONGER NOW THAN WITH EARLIER MODEL RUNS AND COULD END UP GENERATING A DECENT AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION IN SOME AREAS...AT LEAST IN THE MOUNTAINS. SNOW LEVELS WITH THIS SYSTEM LOOK TO BE GENERALLY BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 FEET WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR OR A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...LIGHT WINDS FAVORING TYPICAL DIURNAL TRENDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH AT LEAST MID-DAY TODAY. DURING THE AFTERNOON THERE IS A CHANCE THAT SOUTH OR SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO AROUND 10-15 KTS...HOWEVER CONFIDENCE IS LOW AT THIS TIME. CIGS WILL REMAIN AOA 20KFT WITH A FEW-SCT CLOUDS AROUND 15KFT. A STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING PRECIPITATION AND CIGS AT OR BELOW 5K FEET FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY EVENING. THERE IS A CHANCE OF CIGS TEMPORARILY LOWERING TO 500-1000 FEET. CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. THE BEST WINDOW FOR SEEING CIGS BELOW 5K FEET WILL BE BETWEEN 17Z FRIDAY AND 00Z SATURDAY. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...A STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING INCREASED SOUTHERLY WINDS TODAY ESPECIALLY BETWEEN KBIH AND KTPH WHERE GUSTS 35-45 KTS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS WELL AS ENHANCED MECHANICAL TURBULENCE. OTHER AREAS WILL SEE GUSTS MAINLY 15-25 KTS. ANOTHER AREA OF CONCERN FOR MECHANICAL TURBULENCE WILL BE ALONG THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY WHERE DOWNSLOPE WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH SPEEDS UP TO 50 KTS. WINDS TODAY WILL BE FOLLOWED BY PRECIPITATION AND CIGS AT OR BELOW 5K FEET FRIDAY. CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE THROUGH SATURDAY ACROSS THE REGION. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED. SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FROM THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...WOLCOTT LONG TERM.............HARRISON FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind, 1 strong wind, 1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
These winds were measured at an elevation of 10,300 feet 3 miles west of Aspendell. The duration of high winds is unknown - the 110 mph was the peak measured gust.
Strong winds in the Bishop area blew down one set of power lines and several trees, one of which landed on a house. The event time is estimated. The Bishop ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 48 mph.
The observer at Amboy reported visibility of about 200 yards.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2014
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 545167, 545998, 545168.